On the" Road" Again

We are resting "on the hook" in what I believe is called "Old Lagoon" in Destin, Fla after an uneventful but very smooth motor sail from Pensacola. We had both sails up and full with a stern quartering breeze of 10 to 12 kts eventually building to 20 kts for the last hour. We had following seas the whole way, so, although they built to about 3 to 4 feet they were quite comfortable as we rolled down the lea side surfing to as much as 8 kts from time to time. It's still COLD here. Got down in the mid 30's last night and we had to use one of our generators to run a little electric space heater that does a nice job of adding just enough heat to keep us toasty inside. Looking forward to that point in time when we can replace the jeans and long underwear (actually, Diane looks quite sexy in hers) for shorts.
We had a fabulous visit with family over the holidays--Christmas with our daughter and family in Colorado Springs. Diane's sister Nancy from Chicago joined us as well. Later we all (except Paul--he had to work) trooped up to Vail to Diane's brother's beautiful home for several days including new years. (Diane and I barely made it to New York City midnight on New Years Eve((That's 10PM folks)), but we did get to see the big ball drop.) In Mobile they have the "Dolphin Drop" and in Pensacola they have the "Pelican Drop" I understand many animals are hurt or killed during these rituals---just kidding, people---Sorry we missed these spectacles.
One of the things I wanted to do while in Vail was ski for the first time in about three years. I waited, however, for Paul to get there, to ski with him and John but by then the temp had fallen into the single digits for a high (I only ski when it's perfect--35 degrees and sunny with no wind)Oh well, there's always next year.
Flew back to Panama City on the 4th and picked up a rent car to drive back to Pensacola. Stopped along the way in Destin for dinner at Louisiana Lagniape restaurant---OMG---pecan encrusted grouper, a dinner salad, twice baked potato X 2 and a free bottle of wine for $45---total, not each. It was excellent--We had Diane's leftover fish and potato for lunch the next day.
We kept the car on Wed. for provisioning and a few other chores.
While "on vacation" in Colorado I did a bit of research. I don't like the idea of having to run the generator or engine every day or two to recharge the batteries and decided I would install one of the power maintaining systems (wind or solar) to help try to stay ahead or at least close to even with the game. Since our trip involves the Bahamas and the wind always blow in the Bahamas I decided to go with a wind generator. This will replace at least some and sometimes all of the battery power that we use when we're sitting at anchor or underway without the engine on. I still have the generator to "top off" the batteries when necessary. After doing a bit of reseasch I decided on the Air Breeze model. It's supposed to be the quietest and performed the best in tests in moderate breezes. Problem is I have to get it installed somwhere along our journey. I had actually hoped for some bad weather in Pensacola that would have allowed me to DIY it but we got this fabulous weather window and left for Destin on Thursday
We intended to get an early start. I set the coffee maker for 6:15 as an alarm clock--I thought---Apparently I set it for 6:15 PM and we slept in 'till 7:30. That's why we ran the engine the whole way and motor sailed. We had left an hour later than planned and we needed to make sure we arrived during daylight hours into this difficult and strange entrance channel. So we motor sailed at 7+ kts as opposed to quietly sailing without motor at 6. We hit the Destin channel (East Pass) at around 4:00 with plenty of daylight left to get into the harbor and set the anchor and pour a coldy before dark. It was a delightful trip despite the noisy engine---out right at the three mile line along solid stretches of blindingly white beaches, high rise condos, and thru emerald colored water. Life is Good!!!!
We've decided to spend the day here as some pretty nasty 20 to 30 kt winds are supposed to build today--from the SW--so the building waves would be on our starboard beam with a lot of roll--fairly uncomfortable---Tomorrow, Sat., is supposed to be a lot better, so we'll keep an eye on the weather and maybe get an early enough start to make it all the way to Port St Joe as opposed to stopping at Panama city tomorrow night.